NTIA Issues Blanket 90-Day Extension for BEAD Plans
The agency said in a policy notice states would need more time to implement forthcoming changes to the program.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2025 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration told all states Tuesday they would have an extra 90 days to submit their spending plans under the agency’s $42.45 billion broadband grant program.
Notice of Programmatic Waiver
The Trump administration has been reviewing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program in an effort to change its rules. The NTIA is expected next month to issue guidance somehow walking back the program’s preference for fiber broadband, among other things. It’s not yet clear how sweeping the changes will be or if they will require work to be redone.
The NTIA said those changes would require states, the entities fielding applications for grant funding under the program, to spend more time finalizing their lists of selected projects. The documents were originally due to be submitted for NTIA approval one year after a state’s initial plan for running the program was given the federal green light.
“A comprehensive review of the BEAD Program is underway, and a Policy Notice will be issued to improve and streamline the program, necessitating additional time for Eligible Entities to submit their Final Proposal to NTIA,” the agency wrote in a waiver Tuesday.
More than 40 states have started accepting grant applications from ISPs, with many deep into the process. Three received NTIA approval on their spending plans under the Biden administration, but those documents have been under a budgetary review since President Donald Trump took office.
West Virginia was the first state to be granted a 90-day extension last month, a move the state’s governor said was intended to provide time to align the document with the Trump administration’s priorities. Maine also put its program on pause last week while awaiting changes.
Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, said the blanket extension amounted to a pause.
“NTIA is delaying BEAD to give the Trump administration more time to change program rules,” he said. “To everyone who complained that BEAD hasn’t laid an inch of fiber yet, this is now the reason why.”
The NTIA did not respond to a request for comment, but said in its waiver it was aiming to “remove unnecessary rules and mandates, to improve efficiency, take a more technology-neutral approach, cut unnecessary red tape, and streamline deployment.”
There’s been speculation the agency will set a per-location cost above which states cannot fund fiber projects, effectively forcing some amount of funds to go elsewhere. BEAD’s former director has said he expected to see as much from the Trump administration, and senators pressed Arielle Roth, Trump’s pick to head the NTIA, on the issue. Roth, a critic of the program’s fiber preference, said she would consult with stakeholders if a per-location cap came up.
Under current rules, fiber projects get first priority, but states can fund other technologies like fixed wireless or satellite if no fiber providers show interest or if fiber would be too expensive. States can for now decide where to set the cost threshold above which they look beyond fiber.
States are expecting updated guidance from the NTIA sometime next month.
